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25/09/2016

Saturday's date night (day), was to finally take the plunge, forget our fears and #RideTheSlide at the Olympic Park in Stratford. We were bemused back in 2012 when this piece of extraordinary architecture was the latest addition to London's skyline (it does look a bit strange) - but now there is a slide on it, so who cares!

Of course it is no ordinary slide (hence the £17 price tag to ride it!) It is the world's longest tunnel slide with large amounts of it being dark, but the light shows London's skyscape flashing in your eyes! You travel a long way in just 40 seconds and the first few of them we were absolutely petrified, but by the time we were at the bottom, we were wanting to go again and again!

After the slide, we made our way back up the lift to spend some time on the viewing platform which showcased the Olympic surroundings and beyond into Canary Wharf, Greenwich, and the rest of East London. However, the bit we were most amazed by were the mirrors that were on the platform.

It's difficult to explain but they are apparently called 'concave' which gives some plain weird effects depending on where you stand. Slim, fat, tall, tiny, upside down! What's even stranger is that you can't see it through a camera from most angles! We have no idea how it works but we were fascinated!

We could have been boring and taken the lift back down, but we decided to take the looping 431 stairs with the wind in our faces the whole time! There were soundscapes of various East London landmarks, from Brick Lane market to Upton Park on a Saturday afternoon.

Ever since we left Sheffield, we have lost touch with going out for breakfast and brunch, and we do miss it! It made us very excited for today, as we were heading to Golborne to a place we have been wanting to go to for a long time!

I remember spotting it back in January when we visited nearby Golborne Deli. It is also all over Instagram accounts that we follow, so we hoped to follow suit and get some great snaps too (get it?!)

As soon as we were sat, we were asked if we'd like a drink. Being a traditional man, this wasn't a problem as I almost always go for a latte, but Jessica does like to explore the menu and doesn't like to be rushed as soon as she is seated. It's just down to personal preference I guess. When it arrives, the coffee was very smooth and extra hot - just like we asked.

I, James went for the Kedgeree - an old favourite of my Mum's, and something I haven't had for quite some time. The egg and tomato went perfectly with the salmon and haddock. It was an extremely tasty dish!

Jessica went for the classic salmon and scrambled eggs, but of course being at Snaps + Rye, on rye bread. I managed to steal some and that bread was so soft, just perfect!

If we were ever to open our own Food & Baker cafe, we would certainly be taking inspiration from here for it's aesthetics and appearance. Minimalistic and simple, but it's extremely effective and gives off a relaxing vibe for a Sunday morning. The walls are arty and there is a section where you can purchase their own purchase from both British and Danish suppliers. It's surprising that this is the only Danish restaurant in London. If this one is anything to go by, there should be plenty more! But this place doesn't only stand out for that reason, it has been voted no 20 by Time Out in their list of London's best 100 restaurants.

As delicious and filling as my Kedgeree was, I couldn't leave without having one of the sweet items that were tantalisingly on display by the counter. Chocolate brownie is one of my favourites and I was confident this one would be special. Indeed it was - the texture and taste was great and complimented perfectly by the cream. The presentation was also a bonus.

Chocolate brownie with walnuts - £1.95 - James

If you are looking for a relaxing weekend brunch, this is the best we have so far come across in London. It comes highly recommended.

1. Pre heat your oven to 200 degrees. Fill a pot with the water and bring to the boil on high heat, with the chicken stock pot. Once the water is boiling, pour in the bulgar wheat, place a lid on the pot and rest off the heat for 15mins, or until the water has completely soaked into the wheat.

2. In the meantime, cut the aubergine in half lengthways, cut each half into strips and then chop the trips into roughly 2cm cubes. Remove the core from the pepper and chop into roughly 2cm cubes.

3. Put the aubergine on a baking tray and drizzle over enough oil to just coat your aubergine. Sprinkle over a pinch of salt, a good grind of pepper and put in your oven to roast for 25mins. After 10 mins, add your red pepper to the baking tray, stir together, and pop back into your oven.

4. Lay your chicken breast on a chopping board, place your hand flat on top and slice into it from the side. Open it up like a book. You've now butterflied your chicken. Repeat to the rest of the chicken.

5. Season your chicken with a pinch of salt and a good grind of pepper and season the yoghurt with a salt and pepper too. Put your chicken on a lightly oiled baking tray. Coat the top of each chicken breast with a dollop of yoghurt, then thinly sprinkle 1tbsp of dukkah spice over each chicken breast. Pop in your oven to cook for 15-20 mins.

6. Once your vegetables are cooked, take them out of your oven and add them to the pot with bulgar wheat. Stir everything together.

21/09/2016

Here's another one of our dishes from our box from Hello Fresh this week. We are pretty much sorted for this week as we didn't use the two meals from last week, but since we had a little mishap with a very long "nap" last night, we missed out on dinner. So before we headed out to the cinema tonight, to watch Bridget Jone's Baby, Jessica made dinner, while James cleaned up our room. What a team!

1. Slice each broad bean pod along with seam with knife and push the brand beans out

2. Cut the red onion in half through the root, peel and shop roughly 1/2cm pieces. Cut the bottom and tops of the courgette and then half lengthways, cut each half into four long strips then shop into 1cm chunks. Peel and grate the garlic. Pull the mint leaves off their stalks and roughly chop

3. Slit each sausage in half and discard the skin. Roll the sausage meat into meatballs and leave to the side

4. Put your onion in a large frying pan with a drizzle of oil on medium heat. Cook for 4 mins then add your courgette, a good pinch of salt and a good drink of black pepper. Cook for another 6-7 mins before adding your garlic. Stir together and cook for 1 min, then pour in the orzo. Stir until your orzo is well coated in the garlicky oil, then pour in the water and vegetable stock pot

5. Bring to the boil, stirring to dissolve your stock pot, then turn the heat down to low and simmer away for 10 mins or until the liquid has absorbed and cooked

6. While your orzo is cooking, add your meatballs to a frying pan on medium heat with a drizzle of oil. Cook for 8-9 mins until they are brown and cooked through

7. When your orzotto is 4 mins from being ready, add your bored beans to the pan to cook for the remaining last 4 mins, then remove the pan from the heat. Crumble the data into the pan along with your mint and stir together.

20/09/2016

Just off Oxford Street, Vapiano's is a great way to take yourself from the hustle and bustle, and get some extremely tasty food. As you can imagine any restaurant in that area can be a little hectic too and you do have to queue for your food, but the reward is being able to see it made right in front of you, and be in for some great pasta, pizza or salad.

Some may accuse Carluccio's of being another Italian chain, but please do not. The atmosphere and food offerings give an authentic Italian feel, and will sweep you away from whatever part of the UK you are in and put you in the middle of Florence, Rome or Sicily. Not only is there a restaurant, but in many branches a shop too where you can purchase quality ingredients and other home items.

The food is consistently of a high standard, the atmosphere is quintessentially Italian and the whole experience is based around quality and customer service. Having been to restaurants of theirs in Chester, Sheffield, and James in Liverpool, we know you are guaranteed a great meal. If it' your birthday, be sure to go just for the Happy Birthday sing-song by the staff - they are always so upbeat whatever the day though!

1. Put a large pot of water on to boil with a good pinch of salt. Peel and cut the potato into 1cm wide slices. Cut the bottom root and the top green leafy part off the leek, cut in half lengthways, then chop into 1cm wide slices. Chop the celery into roughly 1/2cm wide slices. Slice the mushrooms into roughly 1cm wide slices. Chop the chicken into small bite-sized pieces.

2. Once your water is boiling, pop in your potato slices and cook for your 10 mins or until your potato is just soft. Once cooked, carefully drain your potato slices into a colander.

3. Pre-heat your oven to 220 degrees. While your potato is cooking, put a a large frying pan on medium heat and add a drizzle of oil. Add your chicken, sprinkle over a pinch of salt and a good grind of black pepper and cook for 5-6 mins until the chicken is browned and cooked through.

4. Once cooked, remove your chicken from the pan, add a drizzle more oil and then put your leek and celery into the pan and cook for 4 mins. Once slightly softened, add your mushrooms along with a pinch of salt and a good grind of black pepper. Turn the heat up slightly and cook everything together for 5 mins until the mushrooms are slightly browned.

5. Once your mushrooms have browned, our in the water, add the chicken stock pot, bring the water to the boil and stir to dissolve. Add the cream, bring back to the boil, turn down the heat and gently bubble away for 5 mins, until it reduces by third. Then add your chicken back into the pan.

6. In the meantime, grate the cheddar cheese into a bowl and add the panic breadcrumbs and a drizzle of oil. Stir together.

7. Once your creamy chicken mixture had reduced by a third, add your salt and pepper if necessary. Spoon it into an overproof dish. Top with your slices of potato and sprinkle over your cheesy breadcrumbs. Season with black pepper and pop on the top shelf of your oven to cook for 10 mins.

We've all heard of Deliveroo, UberEats and JustEat, but have you heard of BringIt!? Takeaway, groceries or even just for a coffee - it doesn't matter how big or small, they can deliver to the house and if you're as organised as we think we are, you can plan ahead and schedule - great for sorting out breakfast the night before!

We had been offered to test out this app with £25 to spend. We decided to use this at a moment of need, one weekend where we had a midday rehearsal to attend to on a Sunday, we thought instead of rushing around for breakfast, we would have a good lie-in and order something to brunch on before we head out.

We had a look at what was available to us around our area and what type of brunch we would want the night before. There was so many selections of places to choose from as this app does not limit you to only the area you are in. As mentioned above, we also found that you could order groceries from Tesco, Sainsbury's Waitrose and Dacha amongst others, which is so convenient when you've already done your weekly food shop on Sunday but forgot to add your favourite ice cream for movie night at home for Wednesday, which I'm sure many can relate to.

We came to a decision that night to order from Crussh, but although we knew we could pre-order the night before, we decided to choose what we felt like eating that morning. We went for something light and healthy.

We had also ordered salmon sashimi salad pot and tuna sashimi salad pot - £3.65 each but unfortunately, these items were unavailable at the time of ordering, which was a shame, as this was going to be the main part of our meal. Nevertheless, we had be told beforehand and money had been credited back.

We loved that we were constantly updated with our delivery, you are able to see where he began his journey and get notified when he is on his way to the shop/restaurant, to where he is on his way your house. Of course, as part of this app in use, there is a service change and delivery charge, based on what is ordered and for what we ordered, it did not seem drastic at all, it was very reasonably priced for what was needed.

Once delivered, the man was very lovely and informative about what was missing and what drink was what, as they looked very similar. At the end, we was able to rate the delivery man, which I think is a nice touch, of course if one needs to be praised.

Overall, we believe this app to have great potential, especially in the groceries aspects of ordering. We can see that saving a lot of people's homemade dinner plans and/or making it even extra special with adding more spices and dessert. We will sure be using this app, especially when we forget that ice cream in the basket.

18/09/2016

Friday was the big day! We made it to our second anniversary, and to celebrate we would be eating at the most romantic restaurant in the world. I haven't just made that up, this restaurant was awarded it for 2016 by Architectural Digest. We booked our table a couple of weeks ago, with the only time remaining being 10.30pm. If you're going to have dinner in style, you may as well get there in style so we ordered our Uber with plenty of time to spare but we were sat at our table straight away.

Oven Roasted Welsh Rack of Lamb & Slow Cooked Lamb Shoulder, Goat’s Cheese Polenta & Braised Fennel, Light Lamb Jus - £25.50 - JamesWe were told when we booked that there was no space remaining in the conservatory, this being what you see all over their website and social media. We did have a peak inside though - the branches and fairy lights filled the ceiling, with the fireplace giving the warmth and fantastically classy and cosy feel. However we would be sat just away from the bar with just three other tables in our room. Even though it did not match up to the conservatory, the intimate feel meant it wasn't hard to see how it's regularly labelled the most romantic restaurant in London, and maybe even the world. We always knew this meal was going to come at a bit more of a cost than the usual, so we decided beforehand to go for a main, sides to share, and dessert.

Whilst the pictures probably can't do it justice (it was very dark in there and not great for bloggers), both of our main dishes were scrumptiously delicious. The meat was tender and complimented well by the other flavours on the plate. Upon our meals arriving at the table, first thoughts were always going to be the effort made to have it look attractive, rather than have our stomachs content. But in fairness, both were filling, but left us wanting more. What a shame we had to have a dessert.

We shared a side of triple cooked chips, which we were however quite disappointed in. Whilst there was plenty of crunch on the outside, the inside was far too overcooked. However the other side of mashed potato was delightful and new for us, in the respect of the truffle flavour.

Wild Strawberry Tart and Vanilla Cremeux, Extra Virgin Olive Oil Sorbet - £10.90
We both decided upon the same dessert which had its own unique feature of olive oil sorbet - sounds peculiar, but we had built trust from the previous course that it would take us by surprise. Its subtlety blended well with the strawberries and made to a very pleasant ending. The special occasion was certainly matched by the restaurant and exceptional food we had the pleasure of eating.

But wait, that's not the end! I had mentioned when we booked that we would be celebrating our anniversary, so out came the decorated and complimentary plate of chocolate bites. A special and unexpected touch.

As you may or may not know, we have been shortlisted for the BEST FOOD BLOG on the #bloggersblogawards on Wednesday 17th August 2016, if you love what we do and truly believe we are worth your one vote, please vote for us here - voting ends Sunday 18th September 2016.

Thank you to everyone who had nominated us, we are truly grateful, we hope you continue to join our in our adventures.

14/09/2016

As some of you may know, James has been away for the past few days, hence the lack of foodie posts, but since we had our HelloFresh delivery, it was a shame to put it to waste and how could I den sharing this with you. My cousin came over, for a girly night in, rose wine and all, and I made this delicious couscous dish!Ingredients:

1. Place the pork on a plate, drizzle over a glut of oil and season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle over half the ground coriander and massage into your pork. Keep to one side.

2. Bring the water to a boil in a pot. Dissolve the vegetable stock pot in the boiling water with a splash of oil. Pour in the couscous, cover the pot with a lid or plate, remove from the heat and leave for 10 mins.

3. Heat the frying pan on a medium-high heat and add a splash of oil. When the oil is hot, add your pork to the pan and cook for 5 mins on each side. Reduce heat if necessary.

4. Chop the tomato and pop these into a bowl. Remove the roots from the spring onion and slice thinly as you can. Roughly chop the oregano and parsley leaves. Take half your spring onion, half your oregano and half your parsley into the bowl of tomato. Mix well and stir in the Dijon mustard and juice of half of the lemon. Add a pinch of salt and then mix in the extra olive oil.

As you may or may not know, we have been shortlisted for the BEST FOOD BLOG on the #bloggersblogawards on Wednesday 17th August 2016, if you love what we do and truly believe we are worth your one vote, please vote for us here - voting ends Sunday 18th September 2016.

Thank you to everyone who had nominated us, we are truly grateful, we hope you continue to join our in our adventures.

11/09/2016

For once this date night was planned at the last
minute. Normally we know at least a week before but on Friday afternoon, we
remembered the previous suggestion to head up the Emirates Airline over the
Thames and probably have dinner or drinks afterwards. The sun was half shining
and knowing it wouldn't be the most expensive thing in the world, we went for
it!

There are various ticket options – from your
regular Oyster card tap to hiring your own cabin for £90, but we went in-between
and spent £10.70 on a the Discovery Experience ticket which includes a return
trip, tour booklet and entrance to the Aviation Experience. Annoyingly, we weren’t
told at the time that this part was closed. However, with it being so quiet we
were in a cabin of our own!

Afterwards we had the chance to picture
ourselves in different cities around the world, which made our desire to travel
even greater than usual. However, when we do travel , I hope to get better
pictures than these…

The views from up above
were fantastic and the lights of the 02 Arena and Canary Wharf shone bright. We
went at just the right time of day to have the first trip under the setting sun,
and the return trip in darkness. It made the experience even better!

We got off halfway at the
Royal Docks and walked along with riverfront where we found a few restaurants
and the Excel building. I’ve only been in that area once before and it is
definitely one of the nicest parts of London I’ve come across! If only we could
afford to live there.

We headed back to
Greenwich Peninsula and went inside the 02 complex to cure Jessica’s craving
for pasta, so Zizzi it was. We are quite fans of Zizzi, especially today as we
were able to get a free dessert each with being on 02 priority! The chocolate
and blood orange cheesecake was fantastic. I went for the prawn linguine, with
Jessica going for her all time favourite, Carbonara.

It was another date night to remember, and with it being our anniversary next Friday, we have something extremely romantic lined up! Check back then to see what it is!

As you may or may not know, we have been shortlisted for the BEST FOOD BLOG on the #bloggersblogawards on Wednesday 17th August 2016, if you love what we do and truly believe we are worth your one vote, please vote for us here - voting ends Sunday 18th September 2016.

Thank you to everyone who had nominated us, we are truly grateful, we hope you continue to join our in our adventures.

1. Mix the yeast with warm water and a pinch of sugar. Put roughly four-piths of the flour - you should have some left over for later - in a big mixing bowl and stir in a pinch of salt. Make a well in the middle of your flour. Tip your mixture and a slash of olive oil into the well.
2. Start bringing the flour in from the sides with your hands and mixing it with the liquid. Keep incorporating your flour into your liquid and mixing everything until you have a nice squidgy ball of dough.
3. Sprinkle half your remaining flour on a clean, dry work surface and place your dough on it. Read it for 5 mins. Hold down the end of your dough nearest to you with your hand and use the palm of the other hand to push the rest of your dough away from you in a long stretch motion, fold it in half and repeat.
4. once the dough is ready, leave it in a bowl in a warm place for at least 15 mins to prove.
5. Meanwhile, pre-heat your oven to 200 degrees. Remove the core from the pepper and chop into 3cm chunks. Chop the base from the leek then slice it in half lengthways. Slice it thinly into half moon shapes. Chop the cherry tomatoes in halves.
6. Put your chipped veggies in a baking try and drizzle with olive oil, a pinch of salt and pepper. Pop them on the top shelf of your oven for 25 mins, tossing halfway through. At the same time, also pop an empty baking try in your oven, as pre-heating the tray ensures the pizza cooks evenly later.
7. Heat a slash of olive oil in a frying pan on medium heat and add the chorizo. Cook for a few mins until ever so slightly crispy at the edges.
8. When your pizza dough is ready, dust your work surface again with your remaining flour. Split the dough into two even balls, and roll each one out until thin. The base should approximately the size of the empty baking tray. Once rolled out, move your pizza bases to a sheet of baking paper each. Spread the tomato puree one the pizza base.
9. Once your veggies are soft, take them out of your oven and spread them over the bases. Turn your over up to 220 degrees. Tear the mozzarella on top of your veggies and spike over the Italian herbs and chorizo.
10. Slide each pizza onto its preheated baking tray. Place on the top shelf of your oven and cook for 8-10 mins.

As you may or may not know, we have been shortlisted for the BEST FOOD BLOG on the #bloggersblogawards on Wednesday 17th August 2016, if you love what we do and truly believe we are worth your one vote, please vote for us here - voting ends Sunday 18th September 2016.

Thank you to everyone who had nominated us, we are truly grateful, we hope you continue to join our in our adventures.